Sanford 'Sandy' Roth, 1927-2009: Artist, advertising executive

May 13, 2009|By Lauren R. Harrison, TRIBUNE REPORTER

Sanford Roth, more affectionately known as "Sandy," lived with flair and boldness in his roles as an accomplished artist, a successful advertising executive spanning three decades, and a smooth dancer some likened to Fred Astaire.

A mid-1970s transplant to Chicago from New York, he rose in the competitive advertising world to become senior vice president and creative director of Ogilvy & Mather, where his major account was Sears Home Fashions, friends and family said. But in 1983, he gave it all up to devote himself to painting full time.

"He remembered his last ride down [the elevator] in the old Standard Oil Building and how he got to the bottom, and [he said] he left his old identity at the beginning of the ride," said his wife, Dorene Marcus. He never looked back, she said.

Mr. Roth, 81, who also taught painting and drawing at his West Loop studio until his health deteriorated in 2007, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday, May 6, at his Chicago home.

Born in Newark, N.J., Mr. Roth enlisted in the Navy in 1945 and served for about two years. He went on to study at the Pratt Institute in the late 1940s and later at the Art Students League of New York, a school established by artists for artists, in 1952.

Eli Rosenthal, his former roommate at the time, said the two met in a fashion illustrating class. "I looked over at him and I said, 'Wow, this guy can really draw and I want to be like him,'" he said. "He always walked around with a sketch pad. He said it was great for picking up girls."

Mr. Roth was first married in 1954 and shortly thereafter adopted two boys, Seth and Jonathan. He struggled with raising both young children after his wife died in 1970, his son Jonathan said. He described their relationship as turbulent during his young adult years when Mr. Roth moved from Long Island to Chicago for his new job. The two re-connected years later.

"He was always understanding and very compassionate. He turned out to be my very best friend in the end," Roth said.

Mr. Roth tended to produce much of his work in the style of abstract expressionism, said his longtime student Maxine Tropp. He encouraged students to use tools other than a brush and to paint with what he called their less-used, "uneducated hand."

Though he was represented by galleries in New York, Chicago and elsewhere, relatives said, he is most remembered for his generous spirit, quick wit and love of 1930s and 1940s culture -- including Cole Porter and Frank Sinatra, to which Marcus said they danced in the kitchen, as well as Li'l Abner cartoons and an era catchphrase: "Watch it, Toots."

In addition to his wife and sons, Mr. Roth is survived by his brother, the well-known writer Philip Roth, and two grandchildren.